2017 TRD OR; 2 issues, Trans and idle [rant on record]

This post I guess is serving as more a general information post and "record" for me because it has a date/time stamp on it that I can't manipulate. I have searched and read a bunch of information on the axle wrap, ATF being low, couple of joints needing to be re-greased, etc...

Mods please don't delete

tl;dr - 2017 OFF-ROAD built later in the year (7/2017), experiencing the same stuff the 2016's are/were experiencing. And this is my "external" documentation of the issues. Feel free to ignore this post, or read through it so you might find some comfort or information that might help you in your ownership...Great truck, just wish my first new vehicle ever wasn't having problems after 650 miles ownership.

Update 9.10.17 - I have updated this thread in several post below, basically, the concerns I have with the truck are classified as "normal characteristics" of the truck, engine and transmission. The dealership opened a case with Toyota Corporate, so it is officially on record and one more case is added to the concerns of those who have come before me and after me. Thanks for reading, hope this helps others.

Background
I have a 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD-OR DCSB in Super White, with 720 miles on it. Bought it 8/7/2017 (finally found the exact purchase date, but picked it up 8/10/2017) I put a bunch of miles on it in a short time because unfortunately my father passed after I got the vehicle and I had to drive back home. From the day I got it until 650 miles the truck was absolutely perfect, minus the whole bed alignment issue, but the dealership fixed that with no problem.

While I was at the dealership getting the bed alignment fixed and I asked them to check to see if there were any updates for the transmission software because I noticed on my highway trip to and from my parents, the truck would hunt for gears/drop down, but it wasn't as bad as what the owners of 2016 were complaining about so I did not really pay attention that much. When the shop foreman who fixed my bed came out and we walked around the car, super nice guy even offered to uses his dads machine shop to make the "collars" one TW user drew up to fix the bed alignment issue/slushing/slop (his drawings are truly a work of art, check out that post, lol). He said there was no new updates for the transmission software for my engine/transmission combination. I looked confused, thinking they were the same in the 2016, and he said the 2017 are slightly different [the combination] but didn't explain as I bought my truck from a seriously busy dealership he disappeared when I turned to acknowledge the service writer.

Issue #1 Rough Idle
When I drove away I noticed at the traffic light that the truck was idling rough, the idle was steady at 600rpm no fluxuation, but when at a stop in Drive [D] there was a now very noticeable vibration. I thought bad gas, since I had filled up at not my regular gas station, and was near low in the tank. I filled up later that morning and it didn't go away. Out of curiosity I put the car in N (later in the day when I was driving around) and it went away was like the day I bought it smooth as glass. After much searching on TW, [thanks guys you have been great] I saw @smitty99 reply to someones post that matched my symptoms exactly and he said it was due to the self cleaning fuel injectors. Not familiar with the toyota version of this I googled, and sure as shit, it seems "normal" but my best friend has a gen2 Taco and has the older motor with 75K on it his motor runs smoother than mine with 720 miles on it. Which is just annoying...I was driving two co-workers to lunch yesterday and both love Tacomas but drive other vehicles; one of them said; why is your brand new truck vibrating like that, do you feel that? Embarrassing, because I had to explain what caused the rough idle.

Issue #2 Transmission
So beside what I stated above about my transmission, two days ago I noticed just once, when I was pulling into my drive way coming to a stop the truck made a "thud" from the back end and felt like the truck "hopped". I thought it was my foot just slipping from a constant pressure on the brake. Then yesterday, I was driving to Muay Thai and I was coming to a stop, the truck was warm, I had been driving it for 15 minutes, I heard a "clunk" and the truck lurched forward uncontrollably. After that I get the clunk noise and axle wrap, and downshift problem whenever the truck is cold, or I am coming to progressive stop. Like someone else posted, I can actually tell you when it is going to do it based on the engine temp. If I am stopping the truck when the engine temp gauge is on the first "tick" mark no matter how I stop, slow, smooth, or more sudden heavier pressure. The rear end makes the clunk noise and I get the axle wrap feeling. After that as long as I come to a smooth slow stop I don't get it, but if I have to brake more suddenly, without fail, I get the clunk and the hoping sensation. And the more I think back over the first 750 miles the more I can remember times where it was doing this but not as aggressively.

I have to go to the dealer today to pick up my TRD exhaust tip, I got a great deal on it and it finally came in, so I will make an appointment to have them check the ATF and diff levels. I am not too confident in their ability to do it properly, when the vehicle is ice cold, meaning they would need to put it in the shop at the end of the day up on a lift, and then let it set until morning before they checked it and filled it. I can assure you the ATF is low. The only good thing about this situation, well might be a couple of things; 1. I have dash cameras front and rear and I think it caught the uncontrollable lurch forward, i am sifting through the video 2. I might get the money for the platinum warranty back as others have been given that as a compensation factor for the troubles 3. It will be documented so in case something happens it will be noted in Toyota's records and I keep a hard and digital copy of all my own records.

Conclusion
I am just frustrated because I bought the tacoma because I have always wanted one, and I got the 2017 because I thought they had fixed all the issues from the 2016 and based on when my truck was built, end of July 2017, that even the 2017's that they had experienced these problems...there would be a good chance mine didn't have these problems as those trucks were more than likely built at the end of 2016 or early into 2017. I guess I was wrong.

I am discouraged by Toyota's handling of this situation, as at one point. I used to work for Corporate through a weird way and back then they seemed to care more, I have seen them buy back vehicles over the smallest issues to ensure their reputation was upheld.

I am going to open a case with Toyota Corporate as well, but it just sucks because I have to do this.

This was my first new vehicle after so many used vehicles. I drove junkers, and decent used vehicles, many of them...saving, investing, putting myself in a better position to finally experience buying a new vehicle and this is how I am rewarded. There is always an off chance that Toyota could buy this thing back if it continues, or I protest hard enough but there is no guarantee, as it seems the Toyota I once knew is no longer. This thought also sucks because I really like this truck and would love to have it for a long time and mod it. I plan on keeping it, hoping they come out with a recall, or a fix...but I am not holding my breath. I can't sell it because I will lose money because I can't get the full purchase price back which is what would make feel whole again if I had to sell it after such a short time. (note: I put down 30% at signing and have a 1.9% financing rate) but sometimes you have to cut your loses and take the hit, learned this through business and investing; when to walk away. I just hope it never comes to that...but if the lurching becomes a safety concern I will have to seriously look at my options.


Thanks for letting me rant, I will update this with any news or progress, both positive and negative.

 

I have a 17 dcor and had the same transmission issue. It seemed to go away after 9k miles. It was horrible. Everyone id
Come to a stop I would get the CLUNK. Not anymore....just ride it out for another 6 months and see if it goes away.

 

oooooooorrrrrrr get a MT . In all seriousness, stinks about your new truck. Mabye @smitty99 can help, he has evry issue under the sun and I believe has found solutions.

 

Thanks, that is some encouragement. I am going to keep the truck, i want to keep the truck, i want it to go away. i want it to be the Toyota Tacoma that I have revered for so long. I just hope it works out, and it if it doesn't at least I got to have one for a short time

I have read @smitty99 posts, almost all the more recent ones, dude has a cool attitude about it all. As for the manual tranny, I love M/T, love them. BMW was M/T, but where I live being stuck in stop and go traffic for 1-2 hours on bad days as well as wanting the crawl control, and it being a truck, I decided to go A/T. Thanks for the kind words!

 

just a slight update: went and picked up my parts and made an appointment to have the truck checked and to have it on record. Talked with one of the shop foreman, not the same one as before. He said, "The clunk and axle wrap...we are going to tell you its normal, but I will bring it in and we will check the fluid level for you, and get it on record". Asked him about the rough idle with self cleaning injectors, and he said "don't get me started on that...". So, at least i am not the only one that is frustrated, lol. As I was leaving I did see a really nice Tundra Pro in White/black combo

I should have bought the Raptor, but still love my Tacoma, problems and all

 

another update:

Dropped the truck off to have the clunking looked at, the fluid levels checked, and the sometimes hard shifting/lurching checked out.

On the loaner, I was told per the service advisor. You do get a vehicle for warranty repair if the repair is over $300 or the vehicle has to stay overnight or the repair calls for over 8 hours of book time (repair time) note: vehicle must have work done to it. I am using a loaner i get through the dealership, i get 3 free loaners outside of the toyota program.

On my truck: the levels are fine for the Transmission Fluid. They compared the clunk to other vehicles and drove it, they were able to reproduce it. There are no new software updates for the transmission. The lurching the reproduced on a an ice cold engine and transmission when stopping, right when you come to a stop and the engine temp gauge reads the first tick mark. So, they are opening a case with Toyota and letting me know. Right now they don't think anything will come of it, but its been in the shop twice now in less than 30 days...and they have a "legit" reason to open a case with Toyota. So who knows, though I wont get the truck back today.

Will keep y'all up to date as I know more.

 

Final Update for now.

once again this is a record for me, as well as others doing a search. Hopefully they will get some information out it...

Update:
The frustrating news: I picked up the truck Saturday morning. I noticed that my Dash camera power was unplugged from the box, so I wasn't too happy about that...otherwise the truck was just like I dropped it off. I worry about taking my vehicles to dealerships, or others after witnessing first hand what happens when others take liberties with your vehicles. There were only 10 miles added to my truck but I agreed they could drive it.

The good news: The dealership did open a case with Toyota, so at least I have it on record and there is one more case opened up to maybe add to the current ones so hopefully they come out with some sort of fix or at least acknowledge the annoyance of their design. The truck still does the hard downshift, lurch forward when it is cold and you come to a stop and the engine temp gauge is at the first tick mark. Other than that, nothing is different. No better no worse.

I still love the truck and glad I purchased it, but I am debating on whether or not I should mod it, lift, tires, wheels, etc...I mean I might as well since there is nothing thats going to fix the problem...but I am just so on the fence now....advice, thoughts, suggestions welcomed! Thanks. (paging user @smitty99)

 

Man. I hear u. If you really want lift and bigger tires I believe if u don't then u are basically just waiting till you trade or sell because u want the truck with lift tires etc. If u really like the truck than do your lift tires and stuff and is spend the extra and put 4.88 gears and it may fix all most ur issues at same time. Plus u will.be very happy with the lift and looks too

 

Whelp got another update:

I was leaving the parking space at my gym earlier today and as I was reversing, very slowly with light pressure on the brake, wheel turned turned to the right about 2 turns, and the engine temp reading above the first tic mark...the truck started to buck and shake like a manual transmission car about to die from not putting the clutch in when coming to a stop. I stopped the truck, then proceeded to continue to back up, and it did the same thing, I turned the steering wheel, changed pressure on the brakes, nothing...finally got out of the parking space, went to the stop sign, as I was coming to a stop it bucked twice and then was fine after that.

I am about to leave on a trip, and I will have to take it back to the dealership when I get back. Something is definitely not right...i just give up...

[paging @johncraft1983]

 

WOW, is all i can say

 

Sell it and move on, That's how many of us have found peace and tranquility. Life is too short. It's such a great feeling. Like they say about owning a boat the day you buy it and the day you sell it are your two favorite days. That's what it was with my 2017 Tacoma I had two absolutely great days. Lol

 

I agree with the Hiluxski. I kept mine almost 2 years in hope I would like it. I waited for Toyota to improve the shifting with the tsb and they never got it right. So, I sold it recently and got a low mileage used 5.7 double cab tundra that I love. I am so relieved the Tacoma is gone!

 

@Hiluxski did you lose a bunch of $$ when you sold yours...I am ok with being out 1500 or so, but I don't want to take a bigger hit than that...

 

https://www.ovtuned.com/collections/toyota-scion/products/toyota-tacoma-2grfks-calibration

 

Mine gets better with miles, almost 8000 miles and runs about perfect now. First couple thousand miles not so much, but tolerable.

 

I have read about that, and considered it but I am going to say, I think I shouldn't have to pay $750 bucks for something to fix my truck that Toyota should/should have fixed in the first place. When my company sells something to a customer, and they pay a fair amount money for our products and it doesn't do exactly what they want, or there is a problem with the install, etc...I go out and fix whatever needs to be fixed and we absorb the cost, or swap out the hardware, or write a software fix...if it is outside of their warranty or something they caused, yeah I would expect them to pay, but we usually do it anyway if they are recently outside the warranty...if that makes sense, lol

 

Post videos of these problems because honestly from the sound of it you just seem like an extremely anal person. Its a truck not a lexus, I've seen OCD type customers all the time that let ANY little noise freak them out and swear the truck is about to explode. Experienced this the most when I worked for Subaru but there's these types of customers in every brand.

First the idle thing is just stupid, does yours idle like every other 3rd gen?? Then no problem... I hear mine when the cleaning cycle runs, sounds funny but no idea why it would bother anyone.

For the second issue I suspect you're experiencing the "Tacoma lurch/surge", its not new, in fact if you google it and set the date range to before the 3rd gen arrived you'll find hundreds of threads all over the place with people complaining about it back to 2005 when the second gen came out. Both of my second gen's have it I just got used to it, people bitch that its some sort of safety issue because OMG WHAT IF IT LURCHES OVER A SMALL CHILD!?! I tell them they just need to learn to fucking drive, my 3rd gen has the lurch/surge and yet I manage to parallel park it between a fence and my jeep EVERYDAY, if I can do this without hitting the jeep or the fence I'm sure people can manage to avoid running over children lol

If what you're experiencing is much worse than normal then I truly do apologize for pegging you wrong, a quick video of your issues should show if you're being picky or if its a legitimate issue. I know I'm coming off as a jerk but I work in the business and I deal with shit like this ALL the time. When BMW switched over to the DI 4-bangers that sound like mini-diesels we had miserable people for YEARS opening cases with BMW, blasting us on yelp, torching our surveys all because "I have a problem and all they do is tell me its normal!! Its NOT normal! I've owned BMWs before I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT" ... turns out it was in fact totally normal.

 

If this truck was any more powerful and got better MPGs, tundra sales would drop.

 

I totally respect and appreciate your opinions and they are very valid. I am someone with diagnosed OCD, and someone who likes things "a certain way" however, after running a large division of 75 car dealerships, working for Toyota Corporate through those dealerships, writing service and still hold the most number of hours booked in one pay cycle because I think I did things the right way [<-irrelevant point i know]. I have had cars with solid motor mounts, I have had couches on wheels, I have had trucks, I have had race cars, race motorcycles, and have experienced brands from Subaru [favorite brand, 2 WRXs and 3 STIs, and two Foresters] to Porsche...I have come to let my OCD go when it comes to vehicles, and focus on things that "are just not right".

The vibration, its not a low vibration for the attikins/otto cycle like I thought but that has gotten better, it was literally shaking my Yetti thermal mug in the front cup holders by the wireless charging so much the water was coming out of the top.

The transmission, while I can live with the clunking, no big deal. The lurching forward, and now the one case of bucking, I can't live with... As one of the times it happened, I nearly re-ended someone. Would have been very very very minor if I did hit them but it was enough to grab my attention.

I am going to try to take a video, and I have dual dash cameras, and I am going to sift through the video tomorrow or tonight and see if I can pull the footage of these incidents. But I am pretty sure I have to manually record the driving for it to save the footage...I could be wrong... if not I will mount my go-pro and just record while I am driving.

So, I definitely appreciate your insight and opinion and you aren't giving me a hard time, those are very valid points. Thanks, it might help those who are truly being anal about their truck.

Like I said, I do love everything else about the truck and would love to find away to keep the truck and that is my main goal, but I don't think I should have to come out of pocket and keep loosing billable hours through work to take it into the dealership.

@Jaque8 side note, I have owned 4 BMWs now, love them too, just the cost of repairing them after a certain point was getting a bit crazy. But absolutely love them...if you search on RevLimited, you will find my post on how I solved the e30 318is, hot start, sputtering and and loss of power, its a sticky on there some where...that was an amazing car I wish I still owned.

 

Toyota in general and Tacoma still has great resale. sold mine to a private party and did very well. lost the tax and license , truck sale price was $800 less than I paid. So I lost tax and license +800 of course your results may vary.